Tag Archives: Western

JANE GOT A GUN is a boring movie. That’s not a comment on shootouts being few and far between – UNFORGIVEN and THE HOMESMAN took their time, but it got deep into what made their characters. Here we have Natalie … Continue reading →

Where this this one come from? HELL OR HIGH WATER arrived with plenty of established talent involved, but very little fanfare. It turns out to be one of the best releases this year, and among the most enlightening and relevant. … Continue reading →

Another day, another Western. America’s favourite film genre just keeps on going, but as long as they’re as vivid and interesting as BONE TOMAHAWK you don’t tend to mind. When a young woman is kidnapped by cannibalistic raiders, a ragtag … Continue reading →

SLOW WEST is a bit of a stunner. It’s been an interesting few years for the Western, with few traditional examples but plenty of sideways looks and genre hybrids making noise and proving there’s still life in this (very) old … Continue reading →

I’m one of a rapidly shrinking camp that still thinks that BIRDMAN deserved to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards last year. Director Alejandro G. Iñárritu is an iconoclast out to shake things up in Hollywood by being stylistically … Continue reading →

With THE HATEFUL EIGHT Quentin Tarantino may well have invented a new sub-genre: the misdirection-Western. The mystery that is seemingly a key plot point from the second act onward is, in fact, pretty incidental. While this might disappoint some, the … Continue reading →

Tommy Lee Jones’ return to feature directing nine years after THE THREE BURIALS OF MELQUIADES ESTRADA doesn’t quite strike the same perfect balance of tone, characterisation and slow-burning story, but it does reaffirm Jones’ mercurial eye for detail and reemphasise … Continue reading →

It’s rare thing that a film so completely divides critics in the USA from the rest of the world. Star Armie Hammer claimed that “If you go back and read the negative reviews, most of them aren’t about the content … Continue reading →

BREAKING BAD has now come to a glorious end, and it really was a television marvel. The show, about a cancer-stricken chemistry teacher cooking crystal meth to secure his family’s future, was thematically layered, beautifully performed, perfectly paced, artfully filmed and … Continue reading →

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About SSP

I'm not paid to write about film - I do it because I love it. Favourites include Sam Mendes, Guillermo del Toro, Bong Joon-ho, Steven Spielberg, Danny Boyle, Edgar Wright, Taika Waititi and the Coen Brothers. All reviews and articles are original works owned by me. They represent one man's opinion, and I'm more than happy to engage in civilised debate if you disagree.